Gartman still likes gold, but stumped on stocks

Dennis Gartman, The Gartman Letter, explains why he thinks gold is likely going higher from these levels, and reveals where he is finding investment opportunities.

The unrest in Egypt will continue to push gold higher, closely followed investor Dennis Gartman told CNBC on Monday. But he's stumped on stocks.

Gold is "nothing more than another currency. And in a world where there is some confusion à la Egypt, money is moving to safer havens," The Gartman Letter publisher said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "Gold wants to go higher."

Gartman, a long-time gold bear, turned bullish and bought the precious metal just before prices sunk to $1,179 an ounce on June 28. Gold has increased more than 14 percent since then—especially after the July 3 ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.

"Morsi was just an absolute horrifying government," Gartman said. "I hate to see coups of any sort, but he needed to be gone. He had done severe, and I think, irreparable damage to the Egyptian economy."

The Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi replaced Hosni Mubarak who himself was forced from power in the so-called Arab Spring that had swept through the Mideast two years ago.

Gartman said he's "fascinated" that U.S. oil prices have not moved higher in early Monday trading, following a weekend of deadly violence in Egypt.

Meanwhile, India's currency, the rupee, hit a record low Monday and bond yields there hit 5-year highs not seen since the before Lehman crisis.

The guessing game on when the Federal Reserve will start to taper its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program has weighed on stocks with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index each down more than 3 percent from their all-time highs on Aug. 2.